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THE LAW — THE PROMISES

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 17, 1900

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 77, No. 16.

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THE LAW — THE PROMISES.

By R. A. Underwood

R. A. UNDERWOOD.
(Concluded.)
Take Isa. 6:9, where the name of Christ is brought out more fully. His name shall be called Counselor. When you take that name, what does that entitle you to, my friends? When a woman links her interests with her husband, if that man with whom she is linked has wisdom and counsel above other men, is she not entitled to all of it? His name shall be called Counselor.
Not long ago a burdened person came to me, saying that she wanted to unload. Did you ever feel that way? I have. I longed to find somebody that I had confidence in, who would not betray me, and who would give me the counsel I needed. After a little time I saw that this woman was confiding in me, and I said that I did not know as she had better do so. I said, “Look here, no man has ever lived who was not liable to betray the confidence of another, and many of them have.” Is n't that so? We sometimes find that those in whom we have the most confidence, those who we think are the best and surest counselors, have a weak spot somewhere. “But,” I said, “there is one you can go to who will not betray you, and he has invited you to come, and he says that if you lack wisdom, he will supply it.” To how many will he give?—“If any of you lack wisdom,” come. He will not upbraid you for coming. He will give liberally.
May God forgive us that we have not taken his counsel. The counsel of God is not double counsel. One man may give you counsel, and another man may give counsel right the reverse; but not so with God. That is the difference between God and man. When he has given us counsel, we may rely upon it. God's counsel is true, and he will never reverse it.
Balaam once tried it. God said that Israel was blessed. Then Balak came and said, Curse Israel, and here are rewards—silver and gold and precious gifts. Balaam looked upon them and said, Stay all night, and I will inquire what the Lord will say more. And the Lord said, All right, if you wish to go, go on. But when you come down there, I will not allow you to do as you please. Balaam said, All right, I will go. You know the result, and what a hard time he had. He had his leg crushed against the wall, and got angry, and beat the dumb brute for turning aside when it saw the angel in its path ready to cut them down. But when Balaam's eyes were opened, and he heard the brute speak with human voice, he said, If you say so, I will go back. No, the Lord said, do just as you please. He went, built an altar to God, and got up to curse Israel, but he blessed instead of cursed. Then he tried it the second time, and the third time, but he blessed them every time. Then Balak became angry, and said, Why have you blessed Israel three times when I am trying to curse them? Oh, said Balaam, I can not say either good or bad. But he wished to, and the Lord let him have his way in the end. God's counsel never changes. Let us take it.
Again: his name is called the Mighty God. And he purposes that we shall receive the might of God. What is that name we are to inherit, not as a matter of merit, but as a matter of gift? His name shall be called the Everlasting Father. In what sense is Christ our Everlasting Father?—He is the Father of all the children he has created, and that takes in all of God's intelligences. And he is not only the Father of his children by creation, but he is the Father of his children by re-creation and adoption. When we repeat the Lord's prayer, “Our Father which art in heaven,” that applies to Christ. He is touched with the feelings of our infirmities. “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.” Do you want a father that has all power of protection? Oh, take the name of such a Father. He offers to give it to you; and if you take it, you will not take it in vain.
Again: he is said to be the Prince of Peace. What does that mean?—He is the author and ruler of peace, and every one who takes that name is entitled to peace, not only peace in the ordinary acceptation of the term, but he is entitled to possess the citadel of his soul in peace. Peace will reign, and rule, and govern every act of the life.
Brethren and sisters, have you that name? Does peace rule in your soul? Christ says, “My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” “My peace I give unto you.” And that peace, perfect peace, is love. 1 John 4:8. God is love.
Are you entitled to that name? When you take his name, can you have hate in the heart? “Perfect love casteth out fear.” What is associated with fear?—Torment. Were you ever tormented? This world is full of torment. The rich man is tormented; he is afraid the other fellow is going to get the better of him. The nations are afraid, and are watching one another with fear. The wicked are afraid. When you take the name of God, you will not take that name in vain. “Perfect love casteth out fear.” Why, you will not fear death. If it is God's good pleasure to let you go down in death, as some of our beloved brethren and sisters have done recently in foreign fields and in the home field; if God sees that it is best for you to rest, then comes the blessed promise, “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth [They can not die in the Lord unless they have taken his name]: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.” Not only are we entitled to peace, but we are entitled to the fellowship and enjoyment of that perfect love of God. And when we have that, we shall love God's creatures. And if we see a soul going down the rapid current of time to the day of God unprepared, we shall do anything to help that soul. If we have the love of God, the love of Christ, we shall manifest that love. Otherwise, we have taken the name of God in vain.
On which side of that cloud do you stand? On which side of that law do you stand? Does it speak condemnation to your soul? Does it speak despair, and do you see nothing but alaw of prohibition and darkness? Or does it speak to you as a law full of promise, of assurance, of God's protection, of God's peace, and of God's love? If you are on the dark side of that law,—on the disobedient side,—oh, in the name of God, step over on the other side before it is too late.
“God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:4, 5. Do we wish light to shine upon the sacred page of God's word?—Then we wish the name of God. God made man in his own image. “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” Man, who was made a little lower than the angels, or a little while inferior to them, went down, down, down. We have gone down till the image of God, morally and physically, is defaced. And then the Lord Jesus came down, down, down, just as far as man had gone; and took upon himself sinful flesh, but he did not sin. What for?—That our sinful humanity might be clothed with his divinity, and that he might lift us, and raise us far above the angels on a plane with himself, and give us his new name. What is his new name?—It is the “Man God.” And he is going to give us the same new name, the “Man God.”
I will read a statement that recently came in a Testimony touching this point: “The work of redemption involves consequences of which it is difficult for man to have any conception.” “There was to be imparted to the human being striving for conformity to the divine image, an outlay of heaven's treasures, and an excellence of power that would place him higher than the angels who had not sinned.” Do you believe it? Christ says that he is not ashamed to call us brethren (Heb. 2:11); and we are to be conformed to the image of the Son of God, who is the firstborn among many brethren. Rom. 8:29.
Turn to 1 Cor. 15:35-49. No wonder that the prophet, when he had a view of this weary land, looked forward to the time when he would awake in the likeness of God, and so be satisfied. “As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” “He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
Brethren, have you the assurance that the work is begun in you? If you have, then you have the assurance that God's infinite power is given to you, and he will finish it even unto the lifting of you “higher than the angels.”
Then, and throughout eternity, we shall realize the fullness of that promise of God which, to the guilty sinner, is nothing but a command of prohibition and condemnation; but the righteous will realize the richness and the fullness of the promise, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”